The present invention relates generally to lockers and more particularly to locker door retrofit assemblies. The present invention is designed to replace existing metallic doors or other assemblies with a locker door assembly comprised of a more suitable material.
Lockers for storing clothing, articles of merchandise, etc., are commonly constructed. Storage lockers are found in many different settings. For example, athletic facilities have lockers to allow athletes to store their possessions while participating in athletic events. Community swimming pools typically have lockers for storing street clothes while a person swims. Lockers are also found in industry where they are used for several purposes, such as the storage of equipment, work clothes, chemicals, and other items which are preferably kept in such a concealed environment when not in use. Lockers are also commonly found in airports, hospitals, school hallways, prisons, and many other sites too numerous to mention.
Most commonly steel sheet metal is used as a primary construction material with metal fasteners used to assemble the finished locker. Metallic lockers suffer from several disadvantages. They are easily damaged or marred such as by dents, scratches and graffiti. Moreover, the metal is subject to damage from rust, odors, delamination and fading.
Attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problems by wholly replacing these metallic lockers with plastic or wood lockers. Some storage lockers were built into either an existing wall of a building or into a building wall while under construction. These in-wall lockers may be expensive to replace with plastic lockers. These problems prevent many from taking advantage of the properties that plastic offers over steel sheet metal.
A need exists for a locker that is designed to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages. The present invention is a locker door retrofit assembly comprised of a material designed to overcome the above disadvantages, such as a plastic or a composite material. The following disclosure describes a plastic locker door retrofit assembly. However, it must be understood that any non-metal material that exhibits the desired characteristics may be utilized for the present invention.
In the present invention existing metallic doors and metallic jams or doors of other materials, such as wood, may be replaced with the plastic locker door assembly. Due to the plastic construction of the door assembly, the locker face will be resistant to many forms of abuse that lockers commonly receive. The locker doors will not dent as will metal lockers. In one embodiment, the locker door of the present invention will maintain its color throughout its entire cross-section. Due to the preferred homogeneous nature of the plastic door assembly, the lockers of the present invention will not delaminate. Furthermore, most materials used in the application of graffiti are readily removed from plastic panels to return the locker doors to their original surface appearance. The remaining metallic body of the locker system is hidden behind the plastic face and is thus protected. Moreover, the substitution with a plastic door assembly provides many cosmetic and aesthetically pleasing attributes to the locker system. These plastic lockers may carry almost any color scheme desirable. Colors may be chosen to match the surrounding decor, to provide a color coding scheme and/or to provide a medium for an organizational theme.
Additionally, the present invention may provide for a complete retrofit locker assembly which may be assembled off-site. The retrofit assembly may be shipped as one complete part and expeditiously attached to the old locker frame on-site. Accordingly, the locker assembly may be manufactured and assembled in a quality controlled factory environment which results in high quality, structurally sound, and consistent assemblies. Accordingly, the locker assemblies of the present invention may be installed on-site in a relatively short time while maintaining structural integrity and consistency.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings which show preferred features of the present invention and the principles thereof.